Pure Joy

This poor little one is sick, but you sure wouldn't guess it by the video!  Thanks to fever-reducing medicines and a good nap, she had some happy time spinning and giggling around the room yesterday.  Makes my heart smile.

The bad news is this virus has brought our first bought of vomiting to the house.  The good news is Elise learned a new word after throwing up all over herself, me, and Bunny: "Yuck!"  She also learned new words from us taking her temperature.  She says "beep" like the thermometer, and when we take it out of her ear, she announces that her temperature is "nine".  So cute.

The Wishing Tree

On the way to Kadoorie Farm last week, I was so excited to see signs for The Wishing Tree!  I had learned of The Wishing Tree before, but assumed we would probably never see it since it is in the middle of nowhere.  But it turns out the middle of nowhere is 5 minutes away from Kadoorie Farm, so we stopped there on our way home.  

The Wishing Tree is located in The Wishing Square (of course) in a little village in the New Territories.  For many years, people have been coming to write their wishes on paper josses and throw them up in The Wishing Tree by way of an attached orange.  The higher the branch your wish catches on, the better your chances of it coming true.  While we don't believe in all this, it was really fun to learn about the tradition.  

The Wishing Square

Goldfish

The paper josses-- now so convenient as to have pre-printed wishes and boxes to check!

This is the current Wishing Tree in use, but it's not a real tree.  The real tree was suffering too much damage, hence the fake one.  But let me tell you, the fake tree and fake oranges don't take away from anyone's enthusiasm about making their wishes!

 The real deal.

Time to throw our wishes-- much harder than it looks thanks to the weird fake oranges that are now used.  It took us both several tries.

Made it into the tree!

I think these are more paper josses.  They were everywhere.

Year of the Horse.  Horses galore!

Cotton candy/candy floss!

Kadoorie Farm

This week we had the time to go on an adventure to the New Territories to visit Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Garden.  It was huge!  We rode their shuttle all the way up to the top of the mountain first.

Next, we worked our way down the mountain and enjoyed some animals and lovely nature walks through the forest.

(Yikes!)

The kids loved seeing the pigs!

Pho with a View

We are so spoiled with the beautiful views in HK, living on mountains surrounded by the ocean.  Earlier this week, we took the kids on a little walk at the Peak with dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant there.  Watching the sun set over a steaming bowl of pho while your kids fight over the rice bowl-- priceless!

ABC Kitchen

Nate and I got to have a fun date night and try a new restaurant called ABC Kitchen.  It's located in a cooked food hall (sort of like a food court, but not in a mall and you do actually get served at your table).  A couple of chefs from a nice restaurant in town took their skills here to do things the way they wanted, and at a fraction of the price.  So it's fancy food in a not-so-fancy-and-therefore-affordable setting.  

We ordered and shared: a salad with pears, blue cheese and candied walnuts; crab soufflé with seafood bisque; beetroot risotto with fresh rocket and goat cheese; vanilla bean creme brûlée.  Yum!!  It was SO good!

CNY 2014

We're having a wonderful CNY holiday and really enjoying our time together as a family, doing HK things we don't normally have time to do.    It's been unseasonably warm (70's!), and it has rained maybe once in the past 2 months, so we're really soaking up the beautiful outdoor time.  Normally Nate or I (...eh, who am I kidding, just Nate!) might be saddened by not having a real winter, but with two little ones who behave much better outside, we're both super thankful for this climate!  But remind us of that when we're melting in the heat and humidity of August, haha.

We dressed the kids up for CNY this past Sunday when we went to church.  People definitely get a kick out of seeing these little guilos in their Chinese attire!  Elise was tired and Finley initially completely refused photos, so considering that they turned out pretty well!

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

We're welcoming the year of the horse with lots of beautiful weather and outdoor play! It's sunny and in the low 70s here and we are just feeling so grateful for the weather and family time together.

 

I'm realizing that I need to take out my real camera, not my phone, over the holiday to get some better quality photos of the kids, but until then here are fun shots from this morning.